Mumbai: Railways’ BMC water bill crosses Rs 500-crore mark

Representation pic

Central Railway and Western Railway in the city owe the BMC over Rs 568 crore in the form of unpaid water bills spanning decades. As per Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation records, as of November 1 this year, CR has Rs 259,93,79,418 dues while Western Railway has Rs 3,08,85,65,247 unpaid bills. The information was revealed in a response to an RTI query. Railway officials said they are making regular payments and that old arrears have snowballed into the huge amount.

Western Railway headquarters in Fort, Mumbai. Pic/Twitter

Railway activist Samir Zaveri told mid-day, "I got the information under RTI from the BMC that water bills of over Rs 568 crore is outstanding from Central and Western Railway. There is a BMC rule that allows the civic body to disconnect water connections if the bill amount is not paid within the due date. However, the list shows that some bills are pending since 2002. This raises the question as to why BMC did not disconnect supply and take legal action to recover the outstanding amount." Civic officials said they had disconnected and restored supply to a number of railway units, and added that it was a continuous ongoing process.

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‘Making regular payments'

"There was a dispute between railways and BMC regarding payment of sewage charges, but the issue was settled in 2015 and railways have paid all the dues till then," said a railway official, adding, "It has been noticed that the online bills raised by BMC since 2002 and prior to that has two components, viz. water bill and penalty and additional charges."

Another official said, "Railways are making regular payments to BMC but the billing system adjusts penalty and other automated charges first and the remaining amount is credited towards bills. This has led to the high arrears. Under the Abhay Yojana, railways were advised to pay the dues so that the penalty can be waived. Railways are in communication with BMC on the issue of waiver of penalty. Current bills are being paid regularly. Pending arrears, except penalty, will be paid for which the sanction of a competent authority is being obtained," an official said.

Rs 259 CR
Pending bills of CR

Rs 308 cr
Pending bills of WR